At the age of 16 Willie Francis became
the first incident of a failed execution by electrocution in the United
States. On murdering his employer – a pharmacy owner – Francis was
convicted and sentenced to death by the electric chair. On administering
a lethal surge of electricity, witnesses report that they had heard the
boy scream “Take it off! Take it off! Let me breathe! “. Another report
claimed him saying “I’m n-not dying!” The executioners were left
flabbergasted. It was later discovered that the electric chair failed to
kill Willie Francis because it was improperly set up by a prison guard
who was drunk at the time.
So Willie
was allowed to live but only for a year, after which he was executed on
another electrical chair which was not set up by a drunk.
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